"No, no, boys, that will never do. If I describe every thing, we shall never get to our hammocks to night. Be content with a little." 66 Oh, we should so like to hear it all." "Should you, indeed? It would tire out your patience. Now I will just travel with my finger up one of the masts, from the deck to the standard. See! here are the shrouds and ratlines, the stay, preventer-stay, stay-tackles, yard-tackles, lifts, and braces; the horse, the sheets, tack, bowlines, and bridles; top, cap, yard and course, with studding-sail-booms, and futtock-shrouds. We have now got up to the main-top-mast; are you tired ?" "Oh no! please to go on." "Well! these are the shrouds and lanyards, and the yard and sail, with studding-sail-booms. Then come the back-stay, and preventer-stay, the stay and sail, the halyards, lifts, and braces; the horse-sheets, bowlines, and bridles, cross-trees, and cap; and now we are at the foot of the main-top-gallant-mast. Shall we go up any higher?" 66 Up to the very top, Captain, where the flag is flying." "You know what these are now, I dare say; they are shrouds, then come the yard and sail, back-stay, stay, halyard and sail, lifts, braces, bowlines, and bridles; royal top-sail ditto.-k. The fore-top-gallant-sail ditto.-l. The mizenbrace.-m. The mizen-top-sail ditto.-n. The mizen-top-gallantsail ditto.oo, etc. The bowlines.-pp, etc. The reefs. SHEETS. The sheets are attached to the lower, outer angles of each sail, to secure them to their respective yards, etc. stay, back-stay, royal yard and sail, royal braces, royal lifts; and, last of all, the royal standard. Well! Now you are very little wiser at the mast-head than you were on the deck below. Better let me describe the ship in my own way, boys." “Then do, if you please, and we will pay tion." all atten "This is a ship-of-war, boys: pity it is that there should be such a thing as war in the world. If we loved God better, we should love one another better, and live in peace and charity with all men: but now for the ship. See what a beautiful hull she has. There's a clean sweep for you, just what the hull of a vessel should have; made to resist the storm, and to cut her way through the bounding billows! The lowest part of the hull is the false keel. It is fastened under the keel to keep it from injury, in case the ship should strike against the ground." "Ay! that must often happen when a ship is dashed on the rocks, or driven on the sands.” "Yes, and frequently, too, from a mistake in the ship's reckoning, or when sailing in a part not well known. Next to the keel comes the keelson, or kelson; this is laid exactly over the keel, to strengthen the ship. The timbers, or ribs, start off on each side from the keel, and inside and outside these, come the planking. That is the head of the ship where you see the figure of Britannia, and you know the stern by the rudder, which serves to direct the vessel in her course." “Yes! There is the rudder, just under the cabin windows." “A ship of the first rate has three whole decks, besides the orlop, the forecastle, and quarter decks. The orlop deck, where the cabins and store rooms of the purser, the surgeon, the boatswain, the gunner, and the carpenters are, is under the lower gun deck. The cockpit is also under the lower gun deck, and near the after hatchway. Many a poor fellow is carried here during an engagement, that the surgeons may take away his shattered leg or arm. "Poor fellows! We have often heard of the cockpit.” "War is a dreadful evil, boys, and we ought to pray every day of our lives to the Father of mercies that he would put an end to it, and establish peace for ever on the earth. The lower gun deck is called the first deck, it is broader and stronger than the others; the middle deck is the second; and the upper, or main deck is the third; over this are the forecastle and quarter deck.” "We understand more about a ship when it is explained in this way, a great deal.” "A man-of-war has three masts, and the use of these masts is to carry the yards, the sails, and the rigging. The masts are divided into three parts. The lowest part of the main-mast is called the lower mast, or the mainmast; the next part is the main-top-mast; and the third part the main-top-gallant-mast.' "That is very plain, however!" “The fore-mast, and mizen-mast, are divided in the same way as the main-mast. So there are the fore-mast, the fore-top-mast, and the fore-top-gallant-mast; the mizen-mast, the mizen-top-mast, and the mizen-top gallant-mast. Sometimes there is a smaller mast still higher up than those I have mentioned. That on the main-mast is called the main-top-gallant-royal-mast; that on the fore mast is the fore-top-gallant-royal-mast; and that on the mizen is the mizen-top-gallant-royal-mast. The bowsprit is a mast, or boom, which runs out over the stem, or head of the ship. See! this is the bowsprit." 66 66 'Ay! It runs out very different to the other masts." Now, then, for the sails and yards. A yard is a long piece of timber hung on the masts, to bear up, and stretch out the sails. See! This is a yard, it is the main-yard, for it hangs from the main-mast, and bears up the main-sail. The yards and sails are named after the masts they belong to." "We should soon know all about a ship, if we had you, Captain, to instruct us." 'It is a new thing, boys, and you like it. We are sure to learn fast, when we like what we learn. The principal sails are the courses, or lower sails, the topsails, the top-gallant-sails, and the top-gallant-royalsails. Sometimes there is another above all, and that is the sky-scraper." "We do not wonder at their calling it a sky-scraper." "The courses, or lower sails, are the main-sail, the fore-sail, and mizen, the main-stay-sail, fore-stay-sail, and mizen-stay-sail; but, except in small vessels, the main-stay-sail is seldom used. There are so many sails about a first rate, that it is better to know a few of them at a time, and to understand them, than to run over the names of them all." "Yes! we like that plan better a great deal." "The rigging of a ship is the rope part of it. Rigging is a general name given to the ropes used to support the masts, and to stretch out, take in, and secure the sails in all circumstances, let the wind blow which way it will. The lower rigging consists of the shrouds, (you would call them rope ladders,) and stays which support the lower masts. The standing rigging is what is fixed, and the running rigging is that which is moved in arranging the sails and the yards. Well now, boys, you have a general notion of the principal parts of a ship,-the hull, the masts, the yards, the sails, and the rigging, and that must serve you for the time present; for I must tell you that I happen to be under sailing orders just now, and it is time for me to get out of harbour." "We will not keep you any longer, though it is very pleasant to stay here, and to hear you talk to us. Perhaps, some day, you will tell us a little more about your curiosities; though we should like an account of voyages and shipwrecks still better." "I will be on the look-out for you, boys; and will tell you about a shipwreck, if that will please you." And, perhaps, you will tell us, too, about a life-boat." "Ay, and welcome, boys 66 "The life-boat! the life-boat! the whirlwind and rain, |